Healthy ecosystems depend on native plants, but the U.S. still lacks enough high-quality native seed to meet growing restoration needs.

Restoring dryland ecosystems is challenging, especially when plants must survive hotter, drier, and less predictable conditions. Many restoration tools assume that seeds taken from climates similar to a project site will perform best.

Restoring damaged ecosystems starts with choosing the right seed, but this decision can be complicated.

In many landscapes, closely related plant species grow side-by-side and naturally form hybrids. We showed that these “mosaic hybrid zones” have important ecosystem consequences.